Doing Well and Doing Good.

The news has changed greatly during the past two decades. In response to the intensely competitive media environment created by cable news and entertainment, news outlets have softened their coverage. Their news has also become increasingly critical in tone. Soft news and critical journalism have not stopped the decline in news audiences. Cable television and, more recently, the Internet have cut deeply into the readership of newspapers and news magazines and into the viewing audiences for network and local newscasts. This attrition might have been even greater if the news had not been recast into a softer and more critical form. One thing is certain: news consumption has fallen dramatically during the past decade.